HOW TO: Protege 5 Strut and Sway Bar install

This post is to help you install struts and a sway bar on a protege5 as well as troubleshoot problems with the install. If you run into problems like I did and no replacement parts, it may take you up to 12hrs (seriously, if all your bolts are seized)

Tools you will need

Big ass breaker bar (½” drive)
Sockets 10-21mm (x2)
Metric Hex keys, 6mm is defiantly needed but you should just have a whole set
Lots of wrenches both ¼ and ½” drive
Wire wheel and wire brushes for air drill
Jack stands and preferably a hydraulic jack
Dremel or rotary tool with lots of wire wheels and wire brushes
Utility knife or “exacto” knife
Spring Compressor
At least a full can if liquid wrench
Optional but really useful, compressor with impact gun, air wrench, air drill
Blade screw driver (smaller one)

Step 1: the night before wash your wheel wells and try and get all the dirt out, once dry, soak ALL bolts in your wheel well with liquid wrench

Step 2: Jack the front of the car up and place on jack stands, then take your wheels off, this is where the impact gun and hydraulic jack will come in handy

Step 3: Open your hood and mark the orientation of stock struts, there is a white dot that is pointing in a specific location. (if you are looking directly at the strut, or looking at the Tokico logo, the white mark should be on the furthest right corner if you are on a lowered car, if you are running stock springs, when looking at the logo the dot should be closest towards you on the right)

Step 4: Remove the ABS sensor, if you pull or damage this sensor its going to be $$$ our of your pocket going to the stealership. I think it’s a 12mm to take them off, 1 is the cable guide/mount that connects to the strut itself, the other is closer to your disc. Unbolt the abs sensor and put it somewhere safe out of the way in the wheel well so when you take our your strut you wont pull the cord.

Step 7: uncouple the bolts that hold the strut on the car, for the last bolt, loosen, then hold the strut up with your hand, with your other hand, un-tighten manually with your fingers, 14mm

Step 8: there is a plastic sheet at the top of your strut, keep this plastic washer sheet thing somewhere safe for reinstall later

Step 9: compress the spring so that there is a little clearance between the top or bottom of the spring and the strut. Spring compressors are all different, I went to Canadian tire to rent one, they charged me ~$120 for a deposit, but apparently if I give it back to them within 3 days, I get 100% refund so the rental is actually free. The spring compressor uses a 19mm hex to turn the large bolt. When compressing the spring, put 1 on each side and make 5 turns on 1 side, then make 5 turns on the other until the spring is compressed.

Step 10: take the top bolt off, it’s a 17mm I believe, an impact gun works really good here since the piston turns when you use a wrench. Once loose, remove 1 part at a time, and place them in the floor in order since you will reinstall in reverse order. Parts should be

Once everything is apart, wire wheel the shit out of the bolts so you have a mirror like shine, this will make your bolts go on WAY easier, use a little liquid wrench to put them back in if you need too

Reinstall the exact way you took it out

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NOTE: my main strut bolts were seized, so this is where your breaker bar, impact gun, and a lot of liquid wrench comes in, just impact gun the hell out of it using a 6 sided socket (vs 12) let your compressor recharge, while recharging, use your breaker bar on that thing and try and move it, then impact gun the hell out of it. Eventually the vibration and torque will cause it to loosen. I had to put about 200lbs-250lbs of pressure on the breaker bar before it started moving.

NOTE: If your end links are seized try this, blast the bolt end with air, and scrape off all the crap inside, then put a hex key in, use a wrench to secure it so the key itself wont move, then use a 14mm wrench to turn the bolt. You will have to do this if the endlink bolt spins freely. Also you can try grinding the crap off the bolt before torqueing,

NOTE: the Mazda mechanic that put in lowering springs on my car (like 3 years ago) really screwed everything up good, they pinched my alarm trunk wire in TWO different places, this is what you get for trusting idiots with your car. If you think about getting Mazda to do any work, you should think again and do it yourself, that way you know its getting done right.

Step 16: Once your strut has been removed, it’s the exact same process as the front strut

TO INSTALL A SWAY BAR (in the above pics I circled both bolts for the endlink, this was preparation for sway bar install)

Step 1: Undo the endlink bolts (if you haven’t already done so)

Step 2: undo carriage Bolts

Step 2.5: troubleshooting crossmember bolts,

if the nut inside the cross member magically “unwelds” it will look like this

The bolt will spin freely and will never come out no matter how fast you spin your impact gun
To separate the bolt you will need a wrench with a shallow 17mm socket, beside the bolt you will see a larger rectangular opening,
Place the wrench with 17mm socket inside (ensure you set your wrench to reverse to loosen), you may not need to hold it there as there is not very much room inside the cross member and the wrench will hit one of the sides, you can now unscrew the bolt, I do not recommend using an impact gun, just use your breaker bar and go slow so the wrench doesn’t pop out.

Step 3: lube your bushings, the tube supplied kinda sucks (should have been a syringe), you squeeze the tube, release and all the lube goes back to the bottom, so to make it easier
- Cut the top off for the opening
- Cut a little slit in the bottom
- Push all the lub to the top

Step 4: put the bar in place and put the endlinks in the mounts to hold the bar in place, you can also tighten the endlink nut on but only screw it on half way

Step 5: screw on the bracket to the cross member, screw on the horizontal bolts first but only finger tight (bolts that are on the vertical side of the cross member)

Step 6 use your jack to compress the bracket and then screw it onto the cross member (my hydraulic jack works better than the stock jack since it has a non slip rubber pad in the middle)

Step 7: lower your car and put your wheels back on, then take it for a spin.

I have a clunk on the passenger side rear, ill figure that one out and post how to fix it. I think its that metal can thing hitting some plastic, ill need to check it out.

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